Preparing a home for sale can be a daunting task even for normally neat and organized people. A lot of people think that a little air freshener, a professional carpet cleaning, and some extra yard mowing is all that it takes to make a house presentable. And that would be true for a cocktail party or a visit from the in-laws, but selling a home requires more effort than that if you want to maximize the value of your home. A lot of home owners don't even give this much thought until their first time talking to their realtor about the process of selling their home. Breaking the news to them that their home is not ready to sell can be a hard thing to do in a diplomatic fashion, that's why it's a good idea to have  a checklist that you can go through with them. That makes the criticism a little less personal and makes the process seem to be a little more of a joint effort. You could even print it up as a flyer or handout and use it as a piece of advertising. There are a lot of items that need to be gone over and you could make a fairly lengthy list, but these are the three big general items and the ones that probably affect the sale of a house the most.

1. We all know this one: De-clutter. Most people don't even realize how much stuff they really own and how much larger a room looks when it is free of clutter. Packing now will make life much simpler when the time does come to move out. If they have lived in the same home for a number of years it may even make sense to rent a storage room and begin packing up seldom used articles and storing them until after the move. Two areas of the house need special attention when de-cluttering.

1. 1. The kitchen. Organize your staples like flour and sugar and any noodles in brand new clean containers. These don't have to be fancy, even the plastic ones you can get at the grocery store will be more presentable than a dusty sack of flour or a sack of sugar that is brimming over with ants. One of the best decorations for a nice clean kitchen is fresh fruit. But don't let it hang around long enough to get old. If you have trouble eating all you buy for decoration keep in mind that there are a lot of other uses such as boiling orange slices and cinnamon as an air freshener. Boil this every night to get rid of the cooking odors and leave the area with a festive holiday scent.
   2. The bathroom. Replace any tarnished faucets or fittings. And while you're at it buy new trashcans and laundry hampers. New towels and shower curtains are also a minor expense that can make a buyer feel more confident in the cleanliness of the home. Nobody expects perfection of a bathroom but a few minor touches will go a long way towards creating the illusion.

1. If you have to repaint use neutral colors. Even though decorating trends favor bright, high contrast, pop-oriented colors and unusual textures, the old fashioned idea of neutral colors providing a blank slate for the potential buyer to fill with their own personal touches still rings true. Even if the potential home buyer intends to repaint every room in the house they will feel productive in adding their own individual touches to neutral rooms. On the other hand covering up your eccentric touches will strike them as an onerous chore.

1. The comfy but ratty chair has to go. Our homes don't have to look like furniture showrooms, but almost everybody has one or two pieces of furniture that they have worn out and hesitate to replace due to their comfort. If you want to hang on to the ten year old recliner, that's fine, just consider putting it in storage for a few months and buy something affordable but presentable for use in the meantime. If you find you don't like your new recliner there are plenty of organizations that will accept furniture as charitable donations. You might not recoup the entire investment in a tax write off, but the beneficial effect on the sale of the home should more than offset the difference.

While there are a lot of other items that could be gone into those three are the big ones. You could go into as much detail as you want, but if you're going to make a handout or flyer you have to keep in mind that most people won't pay attention to or remember more than about a single page of information. If you want to make up a checklist to use with the homeowner you probably do want to have a fairly specific set of cosmetic inspection points for each room in the house.